Thursday, July 13, 2017

Out, damned book!

By Catriona

I'm supposed to be talking about cost-effective promotional efforts today. But, you know what? My 20th book comes out today (in the UK) - Dandy's Shakespearean adventure; set around a production of Macbeth in a Scottish castle in 1934 - and I'm going rogue.

Apart from anything else, totting up the cost of the airfare to Edinburgh every year for the launch party (plus the hire-car (with its ruinous insurance)) would make me weep.

But of course, I'm never just in Scotland for promotion. I see my family, my in-laws and a slew of old pals. I meet editors for London lunches and go to stay with my beloved agent. And most of all I do research.

The research for this book - as well as watching films of "the Scottish play" and reading memoirs of notable 1930s luvvies (that John Gielgud was a bit of a one in his younger years) - consisted of slogging round castles, palaces and other stately piles, looking at stuff. Poor me.

The palaces - full of marble, tapestries, priceless oil paintings and bits of Chippendale - inspired the fictional Mespring House which appears in several scenes and where fantastically grand marquises and marchionesses live in splendour.

But the story is mostly set at the much more humble (fictional) Castle Bewer, based on the ruined Caerlaverock Castle in Dumfriesshire. The day I went there was so wet and cold I was dressed like Vera Stanhope, in my dad's waterproofs -

- because, after seven years in California, I'd forgotten it might rain in August and went over without a coat, (Or socks). It wasn't ideal. The thing about a ruined castle is there's no roof. And the thing about my research method is it's really low-tech. After twenty minutes all my notes were beginning to run and the notepad was disintegrating. So I sought out the only place at Caerlaverock that's out of the rain - a bread oven.

There weren't many other tourists there that day, but it only takes one to go to the ticket kiosk and report that there's a madwoman crouched in a bread oven, writing furiously and muttering a bit.

The guide was very kind and I think she believed I was a writer. She didn't chuck me out anyway. I managed to imagine Caerlaverock back into the family home (with a roof) it once was and even got the inspiration for a clue I'd never have dreamed up on my own.

If you'd like to read what Dandy, Alec, Grant, a company of players, four cultured American ladies and a handful of impoverished toffs get up to trying to put on Macbeth . . . there are a couple of options. UK pals, the book is out today! And the launch party is (a bit late) on the 2nd of August.
US pals, I'm giving away a signed copy to someone who comments below.

Oh, I so wish that there was a picture of you crouched in the bread oven writing! Even your research is entertaining. Congratulations on your U.K. Publication Day. This cover, this connection to Macbeth, this story. It can't miss being a hit.

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Mondays with Susan

Susan C. Shea debuts a new series, a French village mystery, Love & Death in Burgundy in spring 2017 (St. Martin's Minotaur). The third in her Dani O'Rourke series came out in Feb. 2016. She lives in Marin County, CA.

Mondays with Terry

Terry Shames writes the Macavity Award-winning Samuel Craddock series, set in small-town Texas. In 2015 BookPeople dubbed her one of the top five Texas mystery authors.

Tuesdays with RM

RM Greenaway has worked in nightclubs, darkrooms, and courthouses. She writes the B.C. BLUES crime series, featuring RCMP detectives Leith and Dion. Her first novel COLD GIRL, winner of the 2014 Arthur Ellis Unhanged award, will be released 26 March 2016.

Tuesdays with R.J.

R.J. Harlick is the author of the acclaimed Meg Harris mystery series set in the wilds of Quebec. Her love for Canada’s untamed wilds is the inspiration for her series. The 4th book, Arctic Blue Death, was a finalist for the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel.

Wednesdays with Cathy

Cathy Ace writes the globe-trotting Cait Morgan Mysteries, (Bony Blithe winner 2015 - Agatha’s Canadian cousin), and the WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries, set in her native Wales. She lives in rural British Columbia.

Wednesdays with Dietrich

Dietrich Kalteis is the award-winning author of Ride the Lightning, The Deadbeat Club, Triggerfish and House of Blazes. His newly completed novels, Zero Avenue and Poughkeepsie Shuffle are slated for release in 2017 through his publisher ECW Press. Nearly fifty of his short stories have been published internationally, and his screenplay Between Jobs is a past-finalist in the Los Angeles Screenplay Festival. He lives with his family in West Vancouver, British Columbia and is currently working on his next novel.

Thursdays with Catriona

Catriona McPherson is the Anthony, Agatha, Macavity, IndieFab and Lefty winning author of the DANDY GILVER series set in Scotland in the 1920s, as well as two darker stand-alones AS SHE LEFT IT and THE DAY SHE DIED. Catriona lives in northern California with a black cat and a scientist.

Thursdays with Jim

James W. Ziskin (Jim to his friends) is the author of the Edgar-, Anthony-, Barry-, Lefty-, and Macavity-nominated Ellie Stone Mysteries. He's 6'2", weighs 200 pounds, and writes like a girl.

Fridays with Paul

Paul D. Marks pulled a gun on the LAPD...and lived to tell about. A former "script doctor," Paul's novel WHITE HEAT is a 2013 SHAMUS AWARD WINNER. Publishers Weekly calls WHITE HEAT a "taut crime yarn." Paul is also the author of over thirty published short stories in a variety of genres, including several award winners. GHOSTS OF BUNKER HILL, from the 12/16 Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, was voted #1 in the 2016 Ellery Queen Readers Poll.

Fridays with Danny

Danny Gardner's work has appeared in Beat to a Pulp, Out of the Gutter, and Literary Orphans Journal. His first novel, A NEGRO AND AN OFAY, will be released May 2017 by Down And Out Books. His short fiction will be featured in JUST TO WATCH HIM DIE, a Johnny Cash inspired anthology, published by Gutter Books in Winter 2016.